One
by AryaTyrell
Summary: What really happened when Ron left Harry and Hermione in the middle of the Horcrux hunt. DH SPOILERS! H/Hr.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So it's me again. This picks up right when Ron leaves. Sorry this one is so short, but I was kind of rushing so I could write the next chapter- it's gonna be INTENSE! So are you excited! Be excited! T**

**P.S, Two other Harry/Hermione fics are in the works! Yay! And on top of that, two more Harry/Hermione videos are in the making for my youtube channel (hopelessromantic43) Thank God it's summer, or I'll never be able to finish. **

Hermione heard a crack like a whip, and Ron had suddenly vanished without a trace. She stood there for a moment, stunned, allowing the rain to pour down on her. Then, along with it, reality. "Ron! Are you there?" she called half-heartedly into the darkness, but she knew it was no good. Only the sound of the rain hitting the ground responded. Her eyes started to water, and before she knew it tears started mixing with the rain already on her face. She ran back to the tent, her sopping hair plastered to her face. Harry looked up hopefully.

"He's g-gone! Disapparated!" She crawled into the squashy red armchair and burst into tears yet again. She couldn't look Harry in the face when she knew her own sadness would be reflected in his. He threw a blanket over Hermione's shivering form, and her clothes soaked it with rain instantly.

About two hours after Harry went to bed, Hermione felt that she had no more tears to cry, and silently got up to wash her face. The water felt cool on her face, which was still flushed and rough to her touch. On the way back she glanced at Harry, who was sleeping soundly in his bunk. She sank into her own bed, which felt warm and comfortable after the night's events. But she wasn't ready to sleep. Not yet. She knew Ron would be weaving in and out of her nightmares.

Determined to stay awake, Hermione decided to go outside. It sounded like the rain had stopped. When she unzipped the tent flap, she saw a weak ray of sunshine peeking through the tree branches. She sat on the wet and sticky mud, despite the fact that it would ruin her only change of clothes, and began to rethink the night. It was true that Hermione was disappointed with the turnout of the Horcrux hunt, but she wouldn't run off like Ron had. Perhaps, she thought hopefully, that it was just in the heat of the moment, and he would come back. But the odds of that happening were very slim. And even if he did come back, what would happen then?

A sudden rumble from her stomach snapped her back to reality. Hermione then realized that she hadn't eaten anything since the previous morning, and was famished. She stood up and brushed some of the mud from her jeans and made her way into the kitchen, pulling some pots and pans from her bag doing so. The scent of breakfast filled the tent fast, and sure enough, Harry clambered in, rubbing his eyes from sleep. Hermione didn't look up. When they did sit down to eat, she risked one glance at him, which only made him break his gaze from her. At least he'd gotten a good night's sleep, she thought, noting the absence of worry lines and redness under his eyes.

After filling her stomach at last, Hermione began packing everything reluctantly and slowly, sneaking glances into the woods when she thought Harry wasn't looking. There was no need for such stealth, however; she eventually noticed her friend was imitating her, looking for his friend every few moments. After putting everything way, taking down the protective enchantments, and erasing every mark of their existence, she recognized defeat and beckoned for Harry to come over to her. Glancing around one last time, she gripped Harry's warm, soft hand—

They got to their destination, and it seemed more open and cheerful than any other place they'd ever been to. Hermione felt like she'd just taken a swig of Felix Felicis- confident and excited about the future. Then, suddenly, Hermione fled to a moss covered rock filled with a new emotion- guilt. She knew she couldn't have felt all that in just Harry's hand. She felt mortified and angry at herself- her longtime crush had just fled, and she already felt the sparks fly with- she couldn't think of it. She heard Harry begin to set up the tent and place the protective spells around the area. She didn't understand how one moment, she was sulking, and the next feeling so wonderful just because a good friend had held her hand. Hermione decided to put the growing remorse from her mind and focus on the task at hand. She knew she would have to eventually identify her true feelings but she didn't know that someday she would have to choose- Harry or Ron.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I took down the original chapter 2 because I think that they were moving on a little too...fast, and I really want some, like, emotional buildup! SORRY YOU GUYS! But if I get more nice reviews, the sooner their kiss will come! ;D **

**Soooo... before we get into the story let me just say that a lot of this dialogue came directly from the book, therefore, I DONT OWN IT! JKR does. Same goes for last chapter :D **

**O EM GIZZLES YOU GUYS... I just got back from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Let's not get into how many times I cried. **

Harry and Hermione continued to think of possible hiding spots for Gryffindor's sword, but the ideas became far-fetched beyond all real possibility. When that long, circular conversation died out, they busied themselves talking to Phineas Nigellus, who took great pleasure in insulting them and trying to trick them into revealing their location.

Sometimes, though, Harry and Hermione sat in chilling silence, and she noticed, or maybe imagined, that Harry would sometimes look into her eyes for long periods of time, only to look away when she glanced back. She secretly hoped that he might be falling for her or starting to see her differently: their new situation made her feel reckless and rebellious.

Meanwhile, winter came upon them and chilly winds droned on outside their tent. Hermione often saw Christmas decorations and a cold feeling grasped her suddenly as she remembered the previous Christmas. She had seen her favorite cousins, Andy and Laura, who lived in America and were inseparable. They had all gone to Paris with their parents and had had a wonderful time. Although she had often succumbed to depression and lonely feelings when she remembered Ron and Lavender's snogging session, her previous holiday had definitely been the best she'd ever had. This one, she imagined, would probably be the worst, with no conscious family, no friends, only Harry…

One night, she was sitting in an armchair reading her Ancient Runes book when Harry posed a question.

"Hermione, I've been thinking, and—"

"Harry, could you help me with something?" She held her book out and pointed to the rune at the top of the page. "Look at that symbol."

Harry, feeling slightly disappointed that she had ignored his question, told her that he couldn't read it as he didn't understand Ancient Runes, but soon he realized that the symbol she was pointing to was Grindelwald's mark. It was quite strange to find it in a book meant for children. When Hermione was finished pondering the mark, he plucked up his courage again and took a deep breath. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"I've been thinking. I—I want to go to Godric's Hollow." She looked up and got lost in his beautiful green eyes.

She answered, "Yes. Yes, I've been wondering that too. I really think we'll have to."

He furrowed his brow. "Did you hear me right?"

She rolled her eyes, childishly toying with him. "Of course I did. You want to go to Godric's Hollow. I agree. I think we should. I mean, I can't think of anywhere else it could be either. It'll be dangerous, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems it's there." She stared at him intently and became slightly agitated when he answered her.

"Er— what's there?"

"Well, the sword, Harry! Dumbledore must have known you'd want to go back there, and I mean, Godric's Hollow is Godric Gryffindor's birthplace—"

He cut her off. "Really? Gryffindor came from Godric's Hollow?"

She fumed for a moment. "Harry, did you ever even open _A History of Magic_?"

A wide smile spread across his face, the first one she'd seen in days, causing her stomach to squirm uncomfortably. "Erm, I might've opened it, you know, when I bought it…just the once…" He turned slightly redder when she grinned back, reminding her of how Ron looked whenever he became humiliated. Their conversation continued for an hour. However, once she started discussing disguises, she saw Harry's eyes move out of focus, as if daydreaming, while he simultaneously tightened up down south.

"Harry?" she asked loudly. They had been discussing possible methods of stealing hairs for Polyjuice Potion for a quarter of an hour. He blinked and slid up in his chair, placing his hands peculiarly over his lap.

"Yeah, Hermione?" he said, and she grinned when he spoke her name.

"Is that the plan then?" she continued. Harry, clearly unaware of the question, opened his mouth in complete and utter confusion. She rolled her eyes. "The Polyjuice! We should probably wait awhile, maybe a week, until we're completely prepared and ready. Alright?"

Harry's face filled with disappointment. "So we're not gonna be going soon?" he asked, looking straight into her beautiful brown eyes.

"Well, in a few days, maybe three or four. We need to have a foolproof plan, nothing can go wrong." Harry nodded. "Alright. Well, we better get to sleep so we can plan early in the morning." Both of them changed and Harry fell onto the top mattress, while Hermione slept on the bottom bunk. For about half an hour, they both lay under their piles of covers, minds churning and hormones raging, until Harry spoke. "Hey, Hermione. Still up?" he questioned.

She cleared her throat and whispered, "Yep. I can't sleep in this cold, can you?"

"Nope." Then, after a pause, he got an idea. Quietly he shifted positions on his bunk- he was now kneeling. Then he leaned over the edge and shouted, "Boo!"

Hermione screamed and threw the pillow at his face, which missed and landed a few yards away. "We've been through worse, and you're scared of that?" Harry shook his head. "Bet I warmed you up, though.

"Ah, shut up, you. I'm still shivering. And I'd like my pillow back, please."

"Go get it, then."

"No, you're the guy, you go get it."

"Just because I'm the guy, I have to get it? So sexist, Hermione. "

"Well, just because I'm the girl, I have to be the brains of the group? So sexist of _you, _if anything," she shot back.

After a moment or two of silence, both of them burst into laughter. Hermione was laughing, actually laughing, and she didn't even have to force it or hide it or any of those things. And all because of Harry.

"I still want you to get my pillow," she giggled.

"No."

"I'll come up there!" she threatened.

"Are you a witch or not? Just use the Accio charm and let me sleep instead... unless waving your wand is too much work for you."

Hermione flushed in the darkness out of embarassment of not thinking to use the spell. She hastily grabbed for her wand and Summoned the pillow to her.

"There, are you happy now?" Harry asked her.

"Not particularly."

"Girls," Harry grumbled. "So demanding. Well, if you're not going to let me sleep then I'm going to take the first watch, okay?"

"Ugh, fine."

* * *

><p>"Harry?"<p>

Harry turned around sharply, and found that it was just Hermione. "Why are you out here at the unholy hour of-" he paused to glance at his watch- "4:35?"

"Nightmare," she said quietly.

"Oh. Do you... do you want to just stay out here with me, then?" She nodded and sat in the snow next to him.

"Harry?" she said again.

"Yes?"

"You won't.. You won't forget about me? When you get married or something? I know how badly you want a family." Her voice shook so badly, and the pain in it was unbearable.

"Hermione, what even made you think that?" Harry asked. "How can I forget someone as brilliant and loving as you? You're one of the most important people in my life, and nothing will ever change that."

"Silly things, really," Hermione said quickly. Then she leaned on Harry's shoulder and wished she had worded that differently.

**So yeah, I'll just leave you there for now. And by the way, "tightening up down south" means zipping up your fly, in case you didn't understand. Some lady said to me today, "You need to tighten up down south," and I was just like, "What?" And then she was all, "Tighten up down south!" And I'm still like, "What the hell?" This went on for like ten minutes XD Oh, good times. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, a lot of this dialogue came from the book, and obviously, I'm not JKR. It would be cool if I was, though!But anyway... **

**YAYY! Another chapter! Let's see what my hopelessly romantic mind has in store for these two, shall we?... **

A full week later, after obtaining hairs from innocent Muggles doing Christmas shopping, practicing Apparating and Disapparating under the cloak, and learning several new defensive spells ("Just in case," Hermione had said), Harry and Hermione were finally able to make the journey. They Apparated into the area fully disguised, Harry as a balding middle-aged Muggle man, and Hermione as his small and mousy wife. A concept Harry liked to think about.

Harry's mind wandered into a fully-fledged daydream about what it would be like if he married Hermione. He supposed that Hermione would probably work as a professor somewhere, while he himself would be an Auror. He imagined that when he came home, he would see Hermione playing with the children, or maybe cooking dinner. Then maybe, on weekends, they could take the children to the park and watch them run around, and Hermione would have to wipe their pudgy little faces and such. Then, if Hermione had a bad day, they could curl up in front of the TV and watch romantic comedies until midnight, and...

"All this snow!" Hermione's whispered voice brought Harry back to the present. "Why didn't we think of snow? After all our precautions, we'll leave prints! We'll just have to get rid of them- you go in front, I'll do it, you look like you've been Confunded-"

Harry was glad it was dark so she couldn't see his blushing face. "Let's take off the cloak," Harry said, and rolled his eyes at Hermione's frightened face. ""Oh, come on, we don't look like us and there's no one around."

Hermione stowed the cloak in her beaded bag and made their way unharmed, the icy wind whipping at their faces. After a few minutes of this, the heart of the village was revealed to them: there were several little shops, a post office, a pub, a war memorial thing in the center. Laughter rang out and so did snatches of music as the pub door opened and closed; a carol started up in the small church to their left.

"Harry, I think it's Christmas Eve!" Hermione said.

"Is it?" Harry asked, trying to remember when they had left the Burrow and for how long they'd been on the run.

"It has to be, you don't sing carols in the middle of July." Then Hermione stood on tiptoe to see around the church. "They...they'll be in there, won't they? Your mum and dad? I can see a little graveyard behind it." Hermione glanced at him uncertainly and took his hand, pulling him forward. Warmth seemed to travel through their fingers, filling him up from his toes to his head.

"Harry, look!" Hermione pointed at the war memorial... only it wasn't a war memorial anymore. As they passed, it had transformed into a statue of three people: a man with untidy hair and round glasses, a woman with long hair and a kind, pretty face, and baby boy sitting in his mother's arms. Snow lay upon their heads, like white hats.

"Come on," Harry forced himself to say, and they turned again towards the church. It made Harry think painfully of Hogwarts as they drew nearer: Peeves bellowing rude versions of carols, the Great Hall's twelve Christmas trees, Dumbledore wearing a bonnet he had won in a cracker, Ron in a hand-knitted sweater...

There was a kissing gate at the entrance of the graveyard. Hermione pushed it open with her free hand, and it made a tired sort of groan as it swung open. Behind the church, there must have been at least a dozen rows of tombstones, snow covering the tops of the carved rock, spashed with color from wherever the reflections of the church's stained glass windows hit the snow. They waded deeper and deeper into the graveyard, gouging a wide trench behind them, stopping to peer at faded words on tombstones.

The silence was broken when Harry painfully stubbed his toe on a tombstone, and swearing with every swearword he knew.

"Harry, be quiet!" Hermione shushed him.

"No one's around, they're not going to mind a variation in language for a few seconds-"

"No, but look!" Hermione pointed at the tombstone. "_Kendra Dumbledore, and her daughter Ariana,_" she read aloud. "Are you sure he never mentioned-?" she began, but Harry interrupted.

"No," he said tightly. "Let's keep looking."

After several wrong graves, a few more stubbed toes, and a couple run-ins with stray cats, Hermione finally said, "Harry, they're here... right here."

The headstone was only two rows behind Kendra's and Ariana's. It was made of white marble, and was easy to read, as it seemed to shine in the dark.

_James Potter. Born 27 March 1960. Died 31 October 1981. _

_Lily Potter. Born 30 January 1960. Died 31 october 1981. _

_~The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death~ _

"'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death...'" Harry read. Then, suddenly, "Isn't that a Death Eater idea? Why is that there?"

"It doesn't mean defeating death in the way Death Eaters mean it, Harry," Hermione said gently, squeezing his hand. Harry returned the pressure. "It means... living after death."

"But they're not living," Harry said. "They're gone."

"Are they, Harry?" Hermione asked him. "Do you really believe they're gone? They may not be here physically, but... maybe... here," she put a hand over his heart.

At this stage, the tears had overflowed from Harry's eyes onto his cheeks, boiling hot and then instantly freezing from the winter air. Hermione lightly wiped some away with her finger, and said, "They'll be so proud of you, Harry. I know they will." Then she conjured a wreath of Christmas roses before them, and Harry caught it. He placed it on his parents' grave.

He stepped back and put an arm around Hermione's shoulders, while she put her arm around his waist and leaned on his shoulder. They turned in silence and walked through the snow, back towards the dark church and the kissing gate.

**GAH! I know not too much happened, but I'm still really pleased with the outcome. Soooo... yeah. These things always have awkward endings, don't they?... **


End file.
